GoKawiilOn Monday, the Energy Information Agency released its analysis of the energy trends of 2025, covering the entire globe. It confirms and extends the primary conclusion of a more limited analysis by the International Renewable Energy Agency: 2025 was the first year of solar’s dominance. Increased solar production was a key reason the growth of carbon-free energy sources outpaced rising demand.
Coupled with a massive growth in battery storage and relatively stagnant fossil fuel use, the year has led the EIA to declare that “the world has entered the Age of Electricity.”
Electrons for everyone
The EIA report covers energy use, including the electrical grid, transportation, home heating, and other forms of consumption. As such, it can track how some of those uses are shifting, as electric vehicles displace some gasoline use and heat pumps replace gas and oil heating. It also saw a more global trend: the demand for electricity grew at twice the rate of overall energy demand. All of these went into the conclusion that we’re starting the Age of Electricity.
In terms of specifics, the EIA saw electric vehicle demand rise by nearly 40 percent, with electric car sales being a quarter of the total of cars sold last year. While that’s having a measurable effect on electricity demand, it remains relatively small at the moment. It’s almost certain to be contributing to the size of the rise in oil use last year: 0.7 percent. In absolute terms, that’s less than half the average rise of the previous decade.
Credit: IEA Nearly every source of energy grew, but renewables accounted for over half, with solar dominating. Credit: IEA Nearly every source of energy grew, but renewables accounted for over half, with solar dominating.
Heat pump sales were largely flat last year, but in a number of countries, past growth has meant that heat pumps now account for a majority of new heating units sold. But relatively cold weather in populated regions of the world made the building sector the primary driver of demand for natural gas. Even so, its use rose only 1 percent in 2025 compared to 2024.
Trends like these are likely to accelerate in 2026 due to the conflicts in the Middle East. The closing of the Straight of Hormuz will severely affect the flow of oil globally, and a number of countries are dependent on liquefied natural gas from Persian Gulf states. Even if non-fossil alternatives were unavailable, we’d see lower consumption due to a combination of reduced availability and higher prices. Instead, we’re more likely to see an accelerated shift away from fossil fuels due to increased interest in electrified alternatives and government efforts to limit the impact of future fuel shocks.